The climate of Iraq is of the subtropical semi-dry type; however, the country was
rich in water resources until a few decades ago. The climate change, the construction
of many dams on the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in the neighboring countries,
wasting water, and mismanagement caused water shortages. Now, there is a need to
decrease consumption, good management of water resources and determining the
water requirements and water footprints of the major crops because agriculture is
the first consumer of water. The FAO CROPWAT 8.0 simulation model, the
CLIMWAT 2.0 tool, and the Aqua-Crop model can be used in Iraq to find the crop
water requirements (CWR), irrigation schedules and water footprint (WF) for major
crops, the Aqua-Crop software can predict the effects of water deficits on crop
productivity or yield to improve irrigation under limited water conditions. All of
that is to improve the management of water resources to cope with drought. The
objectives of this proposal study beside the calculating of wheat water footprint are
to assess the capability of the AquaCrop model to simulate wheat (Triticum
aestivum L.) performance in hot dry conditions under full and deficient water
conditions in south of Iraq, to study the effect of various irrigation scenarios (stages
of crop growth and water depth applied) on wheat yield. The AquaCrop model will
be evaluated with experimental data during the field experiment. The AquaCrop
model can accurately simulate root zone, crop biomass and grain yield soil water
content, with less than 10 percent standardized root mean square error (RMSE).
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